Of course, as any good baker does, I follow King Arthur on all my social media platforms. And, much like one of my favorite Food Network hosts, Valerie Bertinelli, I love all things lemon. When I saw a recipe for braided lemon bread on the King Arthur Instagram page, you best believe I was going to be making it.
I’ll confess, I’m not great at bread. I know little tidbits from watching one too many episodes of The Great British Bake Off (actually, let’s be honest, there is NO SUCH THING as too much GBBO)…I know the window pane test, I know kneading makes the gluten strands form and become more elastic. But honestly, I can’t look at dough and say – ok, that’s perfect! It’s an under-developed skill, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like trying. While my bread may not be perfect, it does taste good and that has to count for something!
The hardest part of this recipe (for me) was keeping the filling from getting all over the place while I was figuring out how the heck to braid it. There is a video on the King Arthur website which I high recommend watching because it helped a lot.
The end result? It was SO delicious. It’s a recipe I’ve made multiple times now and keep going back to because it feels like eating a healthier (but is it, really?) version of a danish!
If you want to try your hand at it, the recipe can be found here with all the bells and whistles, and I’ve included it below! Happy Bread Baking!
Sponge
Dough
Cream cheese filling
Nanci Hirschorn
Hi Mindy, I also only use KA flour. When visiting your parents a few years back they took me to visit KA ….aka my Mothership 🤪 Btw… my Costco just started carrying the 10 lb. bag for $5.99. I have made an adaption of a recipe from KA for over 20 years, Swedish Almond Braid. It is also a mock braid. This is a coffee cake Lindsey and Evan request every time they visit and also ask me to make at their house. Happy to share with you if you want. Hope life is treating you well! Nanci
Mindy
Would love to try the recipe, Nanci! Sounds delicious – hope you give this one a go, it’s a keeper!